Ingot mold



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.-

LOUIS R. CUSTER, OF SOUTHMONT BOROUG H, PENNSYLVANIA.

I INGOT MOLD,

Specification of Letters l atent.

Patented Mar. 7, 1922.

Application filedApril 14, 1921. Serial No. 461,260.

To all whom it may concern: 7

Be it known that I, LOUIS R. CUs'rER, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of the borough of Southmont, county of;

Cambria, and State of Pennsylvania, have vmolten metal such as steel ofvarious kinds and. qualities from the softest to the hardest qualities, either ordinary carbon steels ..or alloy steels of various compositions, including those made by different processes such as the Bessemer or open hearth processes either acid or basic, crucible, electric furnace or otherwise and also may be used for casting ingots of any other metals to which such molds are applicable. I

My invention relates particularly to ingot molds the cross sections of which may be of any form, either square with rounded corners, rectangular, cylindrical, corrugated, or in fact any of the shapes. into which ingots are cast, and my mold is of what is known as the big-end-up type, that is the cross section of the mold cavity is larger at the top than at the bottom and preferably with a .sink-head top in order to produce ingots which will cool properly in order to prevent piping, which pipingin ingots produced in other types of molds consists of internal cavities which are generally near the top of the ingot, but in many prior cases these pipes orcavities extend well'down into the ingot and thereby spoil a large portion of the same for the use intended by reason of such defects.

features of my invention. The substantially uniform thickness to which I refer, relates v particularly to the main or body portion'of the mold although the lower portion may extend inwardly in order to produce a smaller bottom end on the ingot,'the lower portion of which will cool more rapidly against the stool and the thicker metal of the mold by reason of the greater mass of the mold and stool so as to produce a better and more finished end and obviate fins or flanges of metal which are apt to format the bottoms of other molds and project between the molds and the stools on which they are set thereby causing shrinka e cracks in the ingot which will produce de ects in the finished material, and the fins will also prevent the easy stripping of the ingot or withdrawal of the same rom the mold. These difiiculties may be obviated to a certain extent by extending the bottom of the mold wall inwardly so that the lower portion of my mold need not necessarily be of a thickness uniform with the major portion of the wall.

My molds may be made of cast iron, cast steel or other metals as desired.

In order to simplify the description I will herein confine it tomolds for steel ingots, althoughas before stated my mold is adapted for use"withany kind of metal. I also fprefer to provide my ingot mold with a re which will retain the upper portion of the ingot fluid in order .to feed the shrinkage cavity below as the ingot'cools and thereby produce a solid ingot the'only cavity being ill the sink head top which is discarded.

The walls of my mold are arranged with any usual or reasonable insidetaper so as to allow the ingot to be readily withdrawn therefrom and in this big-end-up type the cross section of the ,ingot is larger at the top than at the bottom as before stated. This form also is conducive to solid ingots for the reason that the shrinkage cavity .or pipe is thereby concentrated in the sink ead to and the body of the ingot is substantially solid.

By reason of the comparatively great and substantially uniform thickness of my mold walls the cooling of the molten steel proceeds in the best manner and to a substantially uniform extent throughout the length of the ingot and mold, although on account of the fact that the mold. walls are of substantially uniform thickness throughout their length, the cooling effect of the mold on the ingot metal will be slightly greater at the bottom by reason of the fact that there is less steel near the bottom portion as compared with the conducting mass of the mold but the mold mass is so proportioned and arranged relatively to the adjaeentmass'of actory non-conducting sink-head top,-

ingot metal throughout the mold length that while'the ingot is cooled almost uniformly throu hout its length it does cool to a "slight y greater extent .at the bottom, and

- although the cooling of the ingot proceeds from the bottom upwardly it approaches very nearly a uniform cooling simultaneously throughout its length. his method of 'cooling is due to the great and substantially uniform thickness and proportion of my ingot mold, which produces a much which at the same time is solid and of more uniform. chemical composition throughout. On account of the character of the cooling due to my ingot mold the segregation of metalloids in the steel is also largely prevented, as they do not have time to separate as they do with ingot molds of the so-called standard or prior forms. With thinner molds made as heretofore; thicker at the bottom than at the top the rate of cooling at the bottom is so much faster than elsewhere that the metalloids are segregated, causing an ingot of varying compositlon in its different parts, all of which is largely obviated by my construction.

I have found by actual trial that as compared with prior practice my ingot molds produce 15 per cent moreby weight of good ingot material than those cast in the ordinary and prior manner.

In order to define within limits, the thickness of my moldwalls, I may make the thickness of these walls such that the mold itself will weigh from one and one-half to four times the weight of the contained ingot, but I prefer a mold that weighs from two to two and a half times the weight of the contained ingot, as I have found that this produces the best results in the manner indicated and. described above. The prior practice in this respect has been to make the ingot 'mold of a weight about equal to that of the contained ingot and with walls thicker at the bottom that at the top so that my mold which is much heavier than the ingot and of substantially uniform thickness is a considerable departure from the prior'prad tice and produces the good results desired as herein stated.

Having thus given a general description of my invention, I will now, in order to make the matter more clear, refer to the annexed sheet of drawings, which forms part of this specification, and in which like cha acters refer to like parts.

Figure 1 is a vertical sectional elevation of one form of my ingot mold mounted on a stool and provided with a sink head top,

this view being taken centrally and vertically through the sink head top, the ingot mold and the stool upon which itrests and the mold shown weighs approximately two .and provided with sealing material such as clay or slurry between the bottom of the mold wall and the nrojection in order to prevent a fin from being formed at the bottom of the ingot. This mold weighs about one and one-half times as much as the ingot contained therein. Figure 3 is a vertical sectional elevation taken centrally through my ,ingot mold, sink-head top and stool, showing a slightly modified form of my mold, having a curved taper in the inner bottom wall'to produce an ingot with a smaller curved end, and the stool in this case has a plane top. Figure 4 is a top plan view of the sink-head top and ingot mold illustrated in Figure 1, and Figure 5 is a togiplan view of the stool shown in Figure 2.

eferring now to the characters of reference on the drawing :-1 is my ingot mold in general as illustrated in Figure 1, 2 is my ingot mold in general as illustrated in Figure 2, and 3 is my ingot mold in general as illustrated in Figure 3. 4 are the top lifting lugs of the ingot mold, 5 are the bottom or hold-down lugs of the ingot mold to assist in holding it down while the ingot is being withdrawn therefrom, 6' are lifting staples for convenience in handling the molds, 7 is the inner cavity of the ingot mold illustrated in Figure 1, 8 is the mold stool of Figure 1 having a depression 9 of curved form to form the bottom end of the ingot, 10 are lugs or pads on the stool 8 to aid in positioning the ingot mold thereon; 11 is the inner cavity of the ingot mold illustratedin Figure 2, 12 is the lower and morev tapered art of the bottom portion of the ingot moFd 2, 13 is the mold stool illustrated in Figure 2 pro vided with an internal projection 14 which is of slightly less size than the bottom of the mold which surrounds it, 15 indicates clay or slurry or .other sealing material which may be placed between the edges of the projection 14 and the lower inner portion of the mold '2, and 16 are lugs which aid in positioning'the mold 2 on the stool 13.

Clay slurry or other sealing material may.

be placed between the bottoms of the molds 1 and 3 and the stools 8 and 20 to seal the joint or crack to prevent fins. This mold 2 weighs about one and one-half times as much as the ingot contained therein. 17 is the inner mold cavity of the mold 3 illustrated in Figure 3, 18 is the lower concave curved inner portion of the mold 3 and 19 is the convex continuation thereof to provide a smaller bottom end on the ingot for the reasons previously mentioned, and 20 is the mold stool for the mold 3 which has a plane top. The ingot mold 3 weighs about four times as much as the ingot formed therein.

21 is the metal casing containin the refractory material of the sink-hea top, 22 is the base flange of the casing adapted to be set on the top of the mold, 23 are downwardly projecting lugs on the base of the sink-head casing adapted to center and position it on the top of the mold, 2 1 are lifting lugs preferably made integral with the sinkhead top casing, 25 is the top flange of the casing, and 26 represents dried sand, loam or other refractory non-conducting lining forming the sink-head top for the purposes previously mentioned.

Another feature. of particular value is that my thick and heavy ingot molds have so much heat-absorbing and containing capacity on account of their mass that they can be used for casting ingots therein while the molds are at higher. temperatures'than the ordinary lighter ingot molds, and they thereby do not so suddenly chill the surfaces of the ingot, which sudden chilling produces surface defects in the ingots, which are obviated by the use of my molds.

Although I have shown and described my invention in considerable detail, I do not wish to be limited to the exact and specific details thereof, as shown and described, but

may use such modifications in, substitutions for, or equivalents thereof, as are embraced within the scope of my invention, or as pointed out in the claims.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is 1. An ingot mold with its large end up, provided with side walls of substantially uniform thickness such that the weight of the mold is from one and one-half to four times the weight of the contained ingot.

2. An ingot mold with its large end up, provided with side walls of substantially uniform thickness such that the weight of the mold is from two to two and one-half times the weight of the contained ingot.

3. An ingot mold with its large endup, provided with side walls the major portions of which are of substantially uniform thickness such that the weight of the mold is from two to two and one-half times the weight of the contained ingot, the lower end of said mold being provided with a straight taper to produce a contracted bottom portion on the ingot.

4. An ingot mold with its large end up, provided with side Walls the body portions of which are of substantially uniform thickness such that the weight of the mold is from two to two and one-half times the weight of the contained ingot, the lower end of said mold being provided with a curved taper to produce a contracted bottom por- -toin on the ingot.

In witness whereof I hereunto afiix my signature.

LOUIS R. CUSTER. 

